


The Sweet Scent of the Ocean

by Branin-Gold (AlbionRaine)



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe, MerMay, Oblivious!Juno, Other, Selkie AU, Selkie!Nureyev, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 13:21:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18717904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlbionRaine/pseuds/Branin-Gold
Summary: “I just don’t know why you gotta do this Boss. I mean, it’s awful suspicious of you to-“ Rita paused, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she fiddled with something on the door, “to break in just to return something. Mistah Agent Glass already doesn’t trust you, and you gotta know this won’t help, right?”Juno sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, “Just open the door Rita.”“I already have Boss”





	The Sweet Scent of the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a list of prompts I saw for MerMay, although it does not technically contain mermaids...

_ Signed, _

__ _ Your Better Half _

__ _ Peter Nureyev _

 

Juno stared at the note. It had been hours since Gla- Since Nureyev had left, and he’d barely taken his eyes off the note since other than to watch the news feed. And to collect the jacket Nureyev had accidentally left behind. The fact that Juno was now wearing said jacket meant nothing beyond the fact that his apartment was cold and the jacket close. At least that was what he would have told anyone if there’d been anyone to ask.

 

Over the weeks that followed, the forgotten jacket migrated to Juno’s bedroom.

And then to his bed.

It never lost the scent though, that cloying, sweet smell of Nureyev’s cologne, with just a hint of salt.

 

—-

 

When he saw Nureyev again, worked with him again, Juno made sure he returned the jacket, determined to stop his useless pining over someone who was mostly a memory of a lie. He missed the way Nureyev’s face fell as he took the jacket though, too busy trying not to show his own emotions on his face to notice.

 

—-

 

That same jacket resurfaced as Juno and Nureyev left the place Miasma had been keeping them. Nureyev had wrapped it around Juno’s shoulders like a prayer, and Juno couldn’t help but bask in it, the scent still strong on it. Likely because it hadn’t been with them through the worst of it.

 

The hotel room was cosy, and Nureyev was solid, enchanting, and forgiving. So Juno had agreed. Of course he’d agreed. He, Juno Steel, was in love with Peter Nureyev. So what could he do but agree to run away with that fantastic mystery of a man?

He’d meant it too, truly he had. But lying awake in the dead of the night, with Nureyev sleeping peacefully beside him, he realised he didn’t deserve this.  _ Nureyev _ didn’t deserve this. Nureyev deserved so much more than a broken lady like him could give.

So he left.

As quietly as he could, Juno collected what scant few belongings he had in that small hotel room, and left.

It wasn’t until he was back in Hyperion City that he realised he’d taken Nureyev’s jacket with him as well.

 

—-

 

It didn’t live on his bed this time, instead the jacket was relegated to the back of his cupboard with other painful memories he didn’t want to think about. Juno did think about it though, nearly every day. And when nearly a year later, he had to decide what he really wanted to take with him as he changed his life completely, a process which had included all but burning his wedding dress, he neatly folded the jacket and placed it carefully into his suitcase. He didn’t think about what that meant.

And he  _ did not _ notice the scent that still lingered, more salty than he’d remembered, but still intoxicating.

 

Nureyev was... Distant. He’d been as stunning and seductive as ever when Juno had first arrived on the ship with Rita, but within a day that facade had been dropped in favour of an uncomfortable distance. Juno couldn’t say he blamed Nureyev, he had every right to be hurt, angry, or any number of other emotions after the way Juno had left. But it still hurt. The way Nureyev would withdraw every time Juno entered a room, not always going so far as to leave, but always far more closed off than Juno had even seen him. Juno hated himself for it.

 

The jacket made its way back to Juno’s bed, staying there for nearly a week before he finally built up the nerve to do something about it. He couldn’t bring himself to give it back to Nureyev personally though. That would require admitting that he’d taken it in the first place, and that he’d kept it, when Nureyev had almost certainly forgotten it by now.

 

“I just don’t know why you gotta do this Boss. I mean, it’s awful suspicious of you to-“ Rita paused, her tongue sticking out of her mouth as she fiddled with something on the door, “to break in just to return something. Mistah Agent Glass already doesn’t trust you, and you gotta know this won’t help, right?”

Juno sighed and rubbed a hand over his face, “Just open the door Rita.”

“I already have Boss”

He bit back a frustrated comment as the door slid open in front of him.

Juno hesitated, Rita was right of course, this was an invasion of privacy. And for what? To return something that had almost certainly been replaced by now. It was such a stupid, trivial thing. And yet.

Drawing a breath, Juno stepped into Nureyev’s room. He folded the jacket carefully and laid it out on the bed.

Then he practically ran out of the room.

 

It was worth it though. The huge, genuine smile on Nureyev’s face the next day proved that much. He was still distant, but the flavour of it had changed. It was a distance born of unfamiliarity, rather than one of fear.

 

Nureyev wore the jacket near constantly, only taking it off for missions as far as Juno could tell. He couldn’t work out why. Did it mean anything? Or was he reading into something that wasn’t there? It probably wasn’t even being worn as much as he thought.

 

—-

 

“Nureyev, can I-“ a pause, “Can I talk to you?”

“Of course Juno, I’m all ears” Nureyev replied with the sharp-toothed smile that never failed to make Juno’s breath catch

“I wanted to... Apologise, I guess. I know I should have earlier but I- I couldn’t.”

“It’s quite alright Detective. You changed your mind, it happens to the best of us.”

Juno shook his head, “No, no I didn’t. I got scared. I didn’t want to end up hurting you, or ruining things. So instead I did both. And I’m sorry I did that to you, I should have talked to you, not just crept away in the night.”

 

It was an appalling attempt at a conversation, all told, but it was a start. And things between the two of them got just a little easier after that.

 

—-

 

The jacket disappeared for a while, and Juno had nearly forgotten it all about it. Until just over a month later it surfaced again.

They were due to land on a water based planet, with their sights on a particular corrupt politician, and an extremely valuable relic in zir possession. Nureyev was dressed to the nines for the heist, of course he was, but what stood out to Juno was not only that he was bringing that jacket on a mission for the first time, but that he wasn’t wearing it. Just holding it over his arm.

 

—-

 

Mortal peril was probably not the way sensible people formed relationships, Juno thought as he and Nureyev huddled in the corner of a cell, waiting for the water lapping at their feet to rise.

The whole thing had not exactly gone to plan, and a simple miscommunication, coupled with the fact that Nureyev had somehow been recognised, had lead to the crew getting seperated. Juno didn’t know where the others had been taken, so he could only assume that like he and Nureyev, they had been dragged along a current underwater for longer than strictly comfortable, and dumped in a rocky cell.

 

When Juno had dried off a little, and finally stopped shivering, he looked over to Nureyev, who smiled back softly.

“I’m still a fool you know” Nureyev’s voice was soft, and he looked away quickly, looking at his hands as he fiddled with the cuffs of his jacket. How he’d managed to hold onto the thing Juno had no idea.

“I- Yeah. Me too.” Juno hadn’t expected it to be so easy to say. Not that he’d really said anything, neither of them had. Both trying to dance around the subject, neither wanting to move too quickly, to break what they’d regained.

Nureyev looked back at Juno, a cunning smile spread across his face as he dropped the sleeve of the jacket and swiftly put it on. He leaned in close to Juno, pressing their foreheads together and gently cupping his jaw.

“I’ll get us out of this” Nureyev pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and before Juno could quite work out what was going on he was gone. The rippling of the water the only evidence he’d ever been there.

 

—-

 

Nureyev didn’t return for hours. The water had risen a good couple of inches, and Juno’s feet were now submerged in the water. He’d pretty much given up hope, there was no way that Nureyev had managed to swim against the current all the way back, not when they’d both nearly passed out when they hadn’t had to swim at all. He must have drowned.

There was a faint splashing sound, and the water started moving more rapidly. Juno looked up to see a black nose break the surface, followed by the head of a creature he’d never seen before. It was sleek and grey, with long white whiskers and large black eyes. It pulled itself out of the water with flat flippers, and dragged itself up onto the rocks next to him. Juno tried to back away, but there was nowhere to go in the tiny cell, so he could do nothing but sit as still as possible as the creature placed its wet head into his lap. The creature’s back end came fully out of the water, and Juno noticed that it had a stocky powerful tail that looked like two flippers fused together instead of legs. Whatever other creatures this planet had, he decided he very much did not want to meet them.

Assuming he ever got out of here of course, but between the rising water and the heavy creature that was almost certainly planning to eat him that wasn’t looking terribly likely.

 

Juno watched the creature unblinkingly for what felt like hours, not daring to move incase it decided he was a worthwhile snack after all. It shifted slightly, almost as if snuggling into him, and Juno held his breath until it settled down again. A few moments later it shifted again, then lifted its head from Juno’s lap and pushed back against its flippers, stretching with an almost human sounding groan. Its flippers slid out from under it, and it contorted strangely as Juno watched. The movement of the flippers turned into a movement resembling a human rolling their shoulders. There was the sound of a sigh, and suddenly Nureyev was sitting in front of him, jacket in hand.

“What?” Juno squinted at Nureyev, he wasn’t even wet, “What did- Where did that thing go?”

Nureyev looked at him curiously, “I’m not sure I know what you mean”

“That- That thing! That came out of the water. I was sure it was gonna eat me!”

Nureyev laughed, and Juno scowled at him.

“I wouldn’t have eaten you Juno dear. But this certainly does explain a few things.”

“Explain a- Wait what? That was  _ you _ ?”

“I’ll fill you in later, I think the priority is getting out of here for now.”


End file.
